Central Michigan unable to solve NIU's Anderson

By
Nate Schneider, The Morning Sun

Sunday, April 7, 2013

@natejschneiderOnce again, Eli Anderson refused to be removed.

This time it was at the expense of Central Michigan.

Just like the last two weekends when Northern Illinois’ Anderson threw complete games to beat Kent State and Akron, he did the same thing Saturday at Theunissen Stadium as he threw all nine inning to beat the Chippewas by a count of 7-2.

Anderson did give up twice as many runs to CMU as he did combined in his previous two starts, but got plenty of run support as the Huskies evened the series to make Sunday’s game quite pivotal. He finished the contest allowing the two earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and three walks as Central Michigan failed to figure him out for the duration of the nine innings.

“He pounded the strike zone pretty well and threw his breaking ball for strikes,” Chippewas coach Steve Jaksa said of Anderson. “He used his changeup in a few spots. Yeah, I thought we hit some ball pretty well but right at fielders. I think we had some good at-bats in there. We had a tough call at third base on a caught stealing that could have turned into a sac fly situation and those things build as the game wears on because you aren’t getting a lot of opportunities.”

The caught stealing Jaksa was referring to came in the bottom of the third inning with Central Michigan (12-17, 3-5 Mid-American Conference) trailing 2-1 as Logan Regnier was ruled out for only the second time in 19 attempts this year. Jordan Adams did follow with a flyout that was the third out instead of the second, keeping a potential run off the board off Anderson (4-3).

Northern Illinois (10-18, 5-3) then broke it open in the fifth off CMU starter Dylan Rheault (1-2) with four runs as some sloppy play in the field played a role in the outburst. After Rheault hit leadoff hitter Nate Ruzich with a pitch, he moved to second on a passed ball and was brought in on a Tommy Hook RBI single. Another two runs scored on RBI singles from Alex Klonowski and Jeff Zimmerman, while an error by Adams allowed the fourth run to cross to make it 6-1.

“With the wind blowing the way it was, we expected a low-scoring game and they did a nice job breaking it open in that inning and we helped them by making one mistake,” Jaksa said.

Rheault, who was given the start due to Patrick Kaminska being shelved with an arm strain, lasted 4 1/3 innings and surrendered six runs (five earned) with two strikeouts and four walks. Jimmy McNamara threw the next 3 1/3 innings and gave up one earned run on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk.

The Huskies scored an insurance run in the top of the eighth, while CMU scored its second run on an Adams RBI single in the bottom half of the inning. Adams also had the initial RBI for the Chippewas with a groundout in the first inning to tie the score at 1-1, bringing in Noel Santos who had doubled two batters earlier.

Freshman right fielder Logan Regnier had a phenomenal day at the plate for Central Michigan as he went 4-for-4 with a triple, a stolen base, and one run scored.

“He’s seeing the ball well and I think that means the preparation he put into today was good, just like it was yesterday,” Jaksa said of Regnier. “Part of playing every day is the preparation you put into having quality at-bats. That’s not easy to do and it’s a learning process in itself. He’s still learning what he can do on the baseball field and he is going to continue to get better.”

Santos was 1-for-4 with a run, Adams went 1-for-4 with two RBIs, and Cody Leichman finished 1-for-4. No other Chippewa recorded a hit.

Sunday’s series finale is slated for a 1:05 p.m. start and can be heard on the radio at WMHW, 91.5 FM.

“We just need to play a little better Sunday than we did today and put ourselves in a good place to win this series,” said Jaksa.